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Excerpt from Fujin, published by Sukima Books
Chapter 3: The calm before the storm The Shogunate settled down, anticipating, patient, listening to the sounds of waves crashing onto the banks off the coast of Tokyo. Finally, after months of grueling research, prototyping and countless simulations, the final prototype model of the Fujin was finally cleared to be combat-ready. At least, combat test trial-ready. The selection criteria for the Imperial Navy's first fighter was announced: Complete destruction, or at least the most amount of damage inflicted on four Jet Tengu, two captured Apollo fighters and a captured Kirov airship, all of them remotely controlled by pilots on the ground in flight simulation pods with the exception of the Kirov airship for obvious reasons. Near the spectator building, three teams were preparing themselves and their fighters for the selection trial. The contractor with the most prominent fighter and highest chance of winning the selection trial was the 'Ran' fighter from Yakumo, a little-known contractor with its roots and HQ location unknown. Yakumo was roped into the selection trial, namely because of their president who managed to appear out of nowhere to have tea with the Shogunate personally, entirely bypassing the castle's guards, defense systems and the like. Back in the Yakumo hangar, the Ran fighter was given the all green to takeoff and start the selection trial, and the pilot would look at the blips on her displays, the gauges, everything. The hangar doors slowly screeched and slid up to reveal the Ran and it would slowly taxi out to the runway. Engaging its propulsion system of unknown technology, the Ran roared down the runway and gracefully took to the skies in astonishingly short time. Banking and soaring into the midst of the four Tengu, the Ran outflew, outmaneuvered and outgunned the Tengu. The Ran's pilot was extremely skilled, grazing any superheated slugs the Tengu fired, on purpose. Most of the time it would have seemed that the Ran was getting shot at to pieces, but the sharp eyes of the Shogunate were capable of differentiating it. The Ran would singlehandedly manage to get on the tails of three Tengu, shoot them down even though they were covering each other's backs, and destroy the final Tengu as it crossed into the Ran's guns, right where the Ran's pilot had predicted the Tengu's flight path. The Ran flew head-on into the two waiting Apollos with guns blazing, managing to take one down by surprise while engaging the remaining Apollo in a vicious dogfight. The Ran was executing never before seen combat air maneuvers, with such grace and sleekness that impressed the Shogunate spectating. With a hard bank and a roll, the Ran hit its airbrakes as the Apollo would fly past, allowing the Ran to have a clear shot of the Apollo and ultimately, send it crashing into the sea in a flaming wreck. The Ran would suddenly make a sharp turn back to the airfield and start entering a landing phase, landing on the runway and taxiing into the Yakumo hangar without destroying the Kirov airship. When guards and curious analysts were sent to the Yakumo hangar to unveil the reason of this event, they were terrified to relay to the Shogunate that the Yakumo hangar was empty. No signs of life...no equipment, no spilt fuel, no bolts or nuts on the ground...entirely nothing. Not even the Ran fighter was present. The atmosphere in the Yakumo hangar was eerie, and some allegedly heard ghostly voices in the hangar. The ones sent to investigate the Yakumo hangar was sworn to secrecy, as the Rozen Corporation would signal that their fighter was fully operational and ready for the selection trial. When Go Raikou Arms Inc. was queried about their status, they frantically tried to cover up the fact that their pilot was missing from her cockpit. Chapter 4: Kamikaze In reality the pilot was bonding with a Raijin pilot secretly, hiding from the Go Raikou Arms Inc. search party since they would intrude on the two pilots and their personal time together. As the Rozen Corporation's fighter, the Suigintou was cleared to takeoff, the Go Raikou Arms Inc. personnel instead gave up on searching for their pilot and started to give the Fujin the finishing touches and attach the newly-designed Macross Missile Arrays onto the Fujin. The Suigintou would have already been busy dogfighting all six replacement fighters, the Suigintou outperforming both the Tengu and Apollos. Cleverly drawing the Tengu and Apollos into each other's line of fire and misleading them to mistake one another as the Suigintou, the Suigintou managed to eliminate all the Tengu and both Apollos, only having to personally destroy one Apollo fighter. Making a sharp bank into the clouds and diving down on the Kirov floating underneath the cloud layer, the Suigintou almost opened fire before it started to smoke and burn, as pieces of its wings and fuselage would break off as if it was shot off, and the fighter would crash into the ground in a spectacular explosion. The Shogunate was puzzled yet again; firstly Yakumo and their Ran fighter disappeared without any traces, and now Rozen Corporation's Suigintou fighter was shot up and down by someone. Some witnesses testify to seeing the Ran shooting down the Suigintou in the clouds, while others would say it suffered structural integrity failure, as Rozen Corporation's engineers would be stunned and shocked. The Fujin's pilot would have returned to the Go Raikou Arms Inc.'s hangar in the nick of time as the contractor was queried again. The pilot was just told to 'stop dating someone', without any stern reprimanding or even the slightest mention of being fired. The Shogunate's morale was dropping. Two mysterious incidents, would the third be a failure too? As the Fujin's pilot flicked the switches and put on her helmet, the hangar doors would screech and slid open, revealing the Fujin to the world that was around it. As the Fujin taxiied out to the runway, something else happened. Instead of accelerating down the runway, the Fujin instead engaged its VTOL system and slowly hovered higher and higher, facing a defiant wing of new replacement fighters. This VTOL system was not new, the Tengu also utilized it. But there was no transformation, only purity of purpose. The Shogunate's morale was raised, seeing a change. Will Fūjin bless this fighter and allow it to succeed as the Imperial Navy's fleet defense fighter, or more appropriately, the Empire's air superiority fighter? A certain maid had said "Time will tell", and time indeed, told. The Fujin automatically started to lock onto the flight of replacement fighters bearing down on the Fujin, ready to unleash its deadly and surprising weapon. Unknown to anyone but himself, the pilot changed one of the targets to the Kirov airship. The pilot would engage the plasma drivetrain and the Fujin would soar across the sky, straight into the flight of replacement fighters. The pilot hit the trigger as the Macross Missile Arrays fired countless missiles out of its two arrays out in such a beautiful form that impressed the Shogunate and the minds back at the Go Raikou Arms Inc. greatly. Gracefully and swiftly, the hundreds of micro missiles from the Macross Missile Array guided themselves into the Tengu desperately evading, an Apollo and the Kirov, serenely ending the fighters and the airship with such 'softness' that would put anyone at ease. As debris of the fighters and airship that was in pieces and burning would start falling into the sea, it was revealed, what the pilot's plan was. An Apollo was left untouched by the what was colloquially nicknamed the "Macross Missile Massacre", the pilot of the Fujin would grin as the Apollo would turn tail and engage its afterburners, seeking to escape the horrible mess that it had gotten itself into. The Fujin would give chase, but the Apollo would continue to inch further and further away. In a spectacular feat of what was called 'cool', or 'awesome' in gaijin speak, the Fujin would eject its empty Macross Missile Arrays and gain a speed boost due to the lesser drag placed on the Fujin, closed in on the Apollo and gunned it down with the 20mm kinetic-burst autocannons, sending it plunging down into the depths of the ocean. The Shogunate was extremely impressed. Not only was it graceful, it was beautiful and deadly, even in battle. Go Raikou Arms Inc. received the contract to begin full-scale production of the Fujin Variable Striker, and it would based on the Incredible Mobile Fortress Tatsu to defend the Imperial Navy. The engineers and technicians would be punching the air and cheering, hugging each other, some would be shedding tears of joy at their success. However one thing remains unsolved...why was the Suigintou shot down, how and why did Yakumo mysteriously vanish without a trace? Eerily, the Fujin's pilot found a note stuck to the wing of the Fujin signed by a 'Yukari', and the note's content: "Congratulations."